Antiviral Sulfonated Polymersomes Inhibit Corona-, Influenza-, and Alphavirus
- 1Imperial College London
Abstract
A broad-spectrum antiviral is required to enable rapid intervention against current, newly emerging and mutating viruses. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza A virus (IAV), Sindbis virus (SINV) and chikungunya virus (CHIKV) all engage negatively charged moieties on host cells, such as heparan sulfate (HS) and sialic acid, to facilitate attachment for entry and infection. We designed HS-mimetic nanoparticles in the form of polymer vesicles (polymersomes) by blending membrane-forming and sulfonated copolymers. These biocompatible polymersomes successfully inhibited host cell infection of HS-dependent SARS-CoV-2 and HS-independent IAV in vitro with sub-nanomolar potency. Multivalent interaction of several virus ligands with a single polymersome as quantified by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy likely contributes to their potency. The sulfonated polymersomes also functioned in vivo as demonstrated by a reduction in the spread of SINV, an alphavirus model for CHIKV, in zebrafish embryos, which led to a significantly increased survival. Hence, our polymersomes could form the basis for an urgently required multifunctional broad-spectrum antiviral nanomedicine.
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BibTeX
@misc{mccabe2026antiviral,
title = {{Antiviral Sulfonated Polymersomes Inhibit Corona-, Influenza-, and Alphavirus}},
author = {S. McCabe and R. Zhu and R. Y. Setia and J. C. Brown and Z. Pan and X. Zhu and X. Xu and B. Kaya and I. Wong and F. Koropouli and P. S. Londono and K. Y. Mok and R. Kugathasan and O. Rifaie-Graham and V. Torraca and R. P. Galao and W. S. Barclay and A. Najer},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.11.758302},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.11.758302v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Antiviral Sulfonated Polymersomes Inhibit Corona-, Influenza-, and Alphavirus
AU - S. McCabe
AU - R. Zhu
AU - R. Y. Setia
AU - J. C. Brown
AU - Z. Pan
AU - X. Zhu
AU - X. Xu
AU - B. Kaya
AU - I. Wong
AU - F. Koropouli
AU - P. S. Londono
AU - K. Y. Mok
AU - R. Kugathasan
AU - O. Rifaie-Graham
AU - V. Torraca
AU - R. P. Galao
AU - W. S. Barclay
AU - A. Najer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/11
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.11.758302
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.11.758302v1
AB - A broad-spectrum antiviral is required to enable rapid intervention against current, newly emerging and mutating viruses. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza A virus (IAV), Sindbis virus (SINV) and chikungunya virus (CHIKV) all engage negatively charged moieties on host cells, such as heparan sulfate (HS) and sialic acid, to facilitate attachment for entry and infection. We designed HS-mimetic nanoparticles in the form of polymer vesicles (polymersomes) by blending membrane-forming and sulfonated copolymers. These biocompatible polymersomes successfully inhibited host cell infection of HS-dependent SARS-CoV-2 and HS-independent IAV in vitro with sub-nanomolar potency. Multivalent interaction of several virus ligands with a single polymersome as quantified by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy likely contributes to their potency. The sulfonated polymersomes also functioned in vivo as demonstrated by a reduction in the spread of SINV, an alphavirus model for CHIKV, in zebrafish embryos, which led to a significantly increased survival. Hence, our polymersomes could form the basis for an urgently required multifunctional broad-spectrum antiviral nanomedicine.
ER -